Delta employees have many benefits and incentives besides meeting new people each day. Employees have access to free standby status on Delta flights both domestically and internationally. Another benefit of being an employee of Delta is that you get a certain number of buddy passes each year that you can issue to friends and family. Buddy passes are standby tickets given at a discounted prices. While you'll definitely get more bang for your buck flying by way of Buddy passes, you'll have to wait until all the confirmed passenger board the flight before you can be seated.

Contact family and friends who are employees of Delta Airlines and ask them if they have any additional buddy passes they'd like to give out.

Give the Delta employee your travel dates to see if there are any available flights that are not overbooked. If a flight is overbooked, it is unlikely that you'll make it aboard the plane as Buddy passes are booked with standby status. Look for flights that aren't fully booked.

Give your information to the Delta employee. The employee will need general information from you such as your name and address to put you in the Delta travel system as a standby flyer.

Pay for your flight. Give your credit or debit card information to the employee to secure your flight. Depending on the destination, you may only have to pay half or a quarter of what the flight actually costs.

Check-in early. On the day of the flight, check-in one to two hours early. Buddy passes travel on S-3 priority. Since there may be other people flying with a Buddy pass on your flight, arrive early so that you are at the top of the standby list.

Tip

  • You might not make it on your specific flight if confirmed, full-paying customers fill the plane. However, you will be put on the standby list on the next available flight.

About the Author

Artesia Peluso began her journalism career in 2006. She is the fashion editor at "PINK Magazine" and has also worked as the arts and entertainment assistant at "Creative Loafing," the associate editor at "Vita Underground" and at CNN as a Network Booking Associate. Peluso has a Bachelor of Arts in communications from Ashford University.

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